Late Sunday night, after the Wild had allowed Game 5 to slip away 2-1 to the Blackhawks, Yeo said, “We’re in familiar territory again.”

These playoffs have become the Department of Redundancy Department. For the second consecutive series, the Wild lost a Game 5 on the road and faces a win-or-stay-home Game 6 at Xcel Energy Center. The opponents, Colorado and Chicago, are far different in pedigree. The feelings are nevertheless the same.

To know what was happening early Sunday night at United Center, you didn’t need HD TV or a 300-page pamphlet on how to figure out whether the NHL playoffs were being broadcast on CNBC, MSNBC, BBC or the Food Network. (Breaking news: Next year the playoffs will be seen on Uncle Luke’s Cable Access in Tupelo, Miss.)